This volume is bound to interest all those who go beyond seeing Gods as serious and distant actors in the affairs of human beings. Also, this will be of special interest to students of comparative religions, especially those whose interests are focused on the entwining freatures of religion and popular culture. Asian Affairs This volume is bound to interest all those who go beyond seeing Gods as serious and distant actors in the affairs of human beings. Also, this will be of special interest to students of comparative religions, especially those whose interests are focused on the entwining features of religion and popular culture. Asian Affairs

• 1: Introduction I. THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY 2: Norvin Hein: Lila 3: Clifford Hospital: Lila in Early Vaisnava Thought 4: Bettina Baumer: The Play of the Three World: The Trike Concept of Lila 5: Robert E. Goodwin: The Playworld of Sanskrit Poetry: Model Sakuntala 6: Malcolm McLean: At the Whim of the Goddess: The Lila of the Goddess in Bengal Saktism II. RELIGIOUS PLAY IN NORTH AND SOUTH INDIA 7: Donna Wulff: The Play of Emotion: Lilakirtan in Bengal 8: John S. Hawley: Every Play a Play Within the Play 9: W.S. Sax: Who's Who in the Panday Lila 10: Nita Kumar: Class and Gender Politics in the Ramlila 11: Vasudha Narayanan: The Realm of Play and the Sacred Stage 12: Alf Hiltebeitel: Draupadi Cult Lilas 13: John Carman: Some Concluding Reflections